We’re all accustomed to stories of how expensive real estate has become in the world’s major cities. Here’s one in London that caught my eye recently:
A Notting Hill flat that is so small [254 sq.ft] that there only appears to be a sofa available to sleep on has gone on sale on Rightmove for £350,000.
That works out to $1,872 / sq.ft [pause for recovery time] but it does raise an interesting question.
Is it actually uninhabitable? Well, it depends. If a single person (forget a couple, that’s insane) bought the place as a full-time residence, it would be tight — but not impossible. And honestly — I know the neighborhood — the kitchen would only be used in emergencies, because that area has about a jillion pubs, restaurants and takeout places pretty much within a few blocks of the place in any direction.
Its purpose, in fact, is that of a corporate flophouse; where an executive (e.g. Mr. Free Market) has a family house / estate far outside London, but spends Monday- to Thursday nights in the city. In these circumstances, all he needs is a bed and a bathroom, with the rest being more or less superfluous.
And the flat is quite pleasing to the eye withal, despite its shortage of area:
I could live there, by myself. But only because it’s in London. Anywhere else, and I’d feel like this:
Looks to me that the Fake bookcase / cabinet thing is likely some sort of Murphy bed that fold down and meets up with that square bench like thing with the Headboard/Canopy thing on the other wall in front of the windows. But 250 square feet??? I don’t even like hotel rooms that small.
The size of the space is very livable, I have live two guys in a dorm room and in the army in space smaller than this with my young wife for a bit in Europe which was cozy but, we were smaller, young and did not have much of anything. Of course we did not plan to live that way that all of our lives and I have had good friends end up in spaces this small and smaller at the end of their live but they did not have much going on.
I measured our front bedroom which I use as an office, it is 11 x14 with a leather pull out sofa and a bathroom 7.5 x 10 which is attached to the room which come to 229 ft very livable space for one who does not need much stuff. A person who could afford the price of this space is going to have a lot of stuff and as for corporate guest quarters I would thing a lot of excellent hotel rooms could be purchased for this price with room and valet service.
That means that the best use of this space would be for a pied-à-terre purchased by one of the billionaires to use a lodging, close to his office, for his current woman of interest to use for discreet meetings yet charging it to corporate expenses.
Tsk, tsk. Such cynicism in one so young…
It’s essentially an efficiency apartment.
Pretty common where I grew up. It was a way to live in the city if you were young and starting out. And they weren’t anywhere near as nice.
But I think you’re right. A place to crash while in the city working. I’ve had smaller hotel rooms in NYC, and they cost me nearly $600/night.
Get back to me when you’ve seen the living quarters on a submarine. …and then lived there for a few months at a time.
On a more serious note, it looks like a rather luxurious efficiency apartment to me. However, I’m not an “urbanite”. I dislike big cities, although I don’t mind visiting them for a few days as a tourist.
The company I used to work for once asked me if I would consider relocating to NYC for them. I answered that they didn’t have enough money in their treasury.
My response to the same request was: “I’m not worth the amount of money you’d have to pay me to go there.”
Aside from insufficient space for just about anything, this property suffers from three irreparable faults: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.
London, the surveillance city
London, where defending yourself effectively is not only illegal, but will get you charged/convicted/imprisoned.
England, where there are no free people.
Actually, we in the UK are allowed to defend ourselves. We may be called upon to justify it in court, but self defence is an absolute defence.
As for the surveillance state, no argument.
Right….Murder is the unlawful taking of a human life…
Seems like this person was preventing (more) murder from happening. But he has been charged with murder.
He should have been given a fucking medal by the Queen
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17422136/woman-stabbed-death-man-killed-car-probe-cops/
2003, we converted a 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle.
Our interior is 7w x 12l x 7h, about 700cf (metrifical equivalent — 333.003 hectares-per-milihour).
Summers up rough logger tracks to remote mountain lakes.
Winters on isolated Baja beaches.
Nearly two decades full-time live-aboard, we are rarely inside, preferring to be outside with our caravan chums, cooking, pot-latches, dancing, and sharing tall tales around the camp-fire.
.
A stand-still house… not interested.